We were at the door of the Surgery at 6:20 am. It was raining still, having rained nearly all night with ever-returning thunderstorms rumbling abroad. We stood under a portico until they opened the doors. The receptionist made quick work of checking me in and I was immediately shown back to the prep area.
Carolynn worked furiously for 45 minutes to get me ready for the anesthesiologist and doctor. Blood pressure cuff, heart monitor, and a whole series of drops, done at intervals, five times at least, to open the eye. In between putting drops in my eyes, she busied herself with installing a port in my hand for the anesthesia, swathing me in warmed blankets which had a double purpose. They did feel good in the air conditioned room but they also somewhat immobilized me. When I got my right arm free to wipe some tears that had run down my face, she said she would do that, and firmly placed my arm along my side under the blanket so I wouldn’t be tempted “to help the doctor”,.she said. She placed booties over my sneakers and a cap over my hair, and helped me take off a ring I had forgotten to remove before I came. She asked me questions often to help mitigate any tension, I assume. But she worked at top speed, so I knew this was a routine she did over and over. Then she invited Amy and Barry to come in and sit with me until they were ready in surgery.
On cue, the anesthesiologist came on scene asking the same questions that each new person I met there asked; my name, my birthday, which eye would they be operating on, where did i live, who will take care of me afterwards, etc. Then he went through my chart which had about twenty pages or so, checking and initialing lots of things, joking with us a little. I had already told them that it does not take much to put me under; I conk out completely rather easily. So I asked him what anesthesia he would be giving and he talked with us a while about that, saying he was glad to know that I was a “light” patient, because they preferred that I be closer to awake than asleep though I would likely feel or see nothing during surgery. He was right. I could hear; there was music playing; I could hear them talking to each other and to me. But suddenly it was over and they were stripping lots of adhesive off my head and face, removing all the monitors, putting dark glasses on my face, wheeling me into recovery, and calling Amy.
After that the recovery nurse, a very pleasant lady named Mary, gave me some orange juice and, when I didn’t want cookies, brought me some graham cracker “teddy bears”. Just right! She went over details for today while Amy took notes, and then I was sprung. Be good and come back tomorrow. So a little wobbly but not bad, it was home to Amy’s for scrambled eggs and toast which tasted really good as I’d had no breakfast. More drops; I’m really glad for the labels and markers we put on the 3 different bottles. Lying on the bed, Dr. Lass’ suggestion, seems to be the easiest way at this point to put in the drops, especially since I have to wait 5 minutes between each application. After eating, suddenly I was tired. I slept for two hours; sedation was still wearing off probably.
In terms of seeing, my left eye, with glasses, allows me to move about without running into doors. The right eye is fuzzy but I expected that. I will see Dr. Lass again tomorrow for a check-up and can ask him about removing the lens from my glasses, or having plain glass replace the right lens while the eye is healing. I have a plastic shield I have to wear while sleeping and some wrap-around dark glasses if I go outside. I was all ready to go out for a short walk this afternoon but it was raining again, so I will wait a while.
So far, so good.
No comments:
Post a Comment